Undefeated

Outstanding on so many levels
"Undefeated" (110 min.) brings the story of the North Memphis Manassas High School football team's 2009 season. The football team's history is one of losing, losing, losing, until a few years before that a volunteer coach named Bill Courtney steps up and coaches and wills these young men, all of them underprivileged from this inner-city part of Memphis, to greater things. "Coach Bill", as he is referred to by his players, tries to instill discipline, character, and the "team first" concept to them, and what a struggle it is.

The title of this documentary is quite curious, as the team does NOT go undefeated, nor do these young men go undefeated through life. The movie focuses primarily on three of the team's players, including a young man who returns to school as a junior after having served a 15 month jail sentence as a juvenile (it is never made clear what he did to deserve that sentence). Another of those kids the movie focuses on gets injured early into the season and we...

Building Character Through Football: A Journey To Adulthood Starts On The Field
2011's Academy Award winning feature for Best Documentary, "Undefeated" tells the true story of a high school football team in Memphis that defied the odds to challenge other squads with much greater resources and support. Told largely through one exciting season, we see the team evolve as a powerhouse with the tireless assistance of a volunteer coach named Bill Courtney. Building the team from the ground up, Courtney sees football as a way to build character with many of his troubled teens. And indeed, these kids are growing up in a world where crime and poverty claim victims all around them. You probably know the format of the inspiring sports documentary. There have certainly been plenty of them. "Undefeated" is, at the same time, exactly what you might expect but also a great deal more. Football becomes a metaphor for something much larger. And if you think you know the outcome due to the film's title, it doesn't necessarily refer to a winning season...

Stunning
I have never been so thoroughly and completely in a movie's vice grip. There's a scene at the end that is so gripping, so profound, that it's almost unbearable to watch. Incredibly stirring. Wow.

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